Our county school administration has approved the ITI program. Tax dollars were spent to bring the author of the program here to explain and sell her program and books.

Some school administrators and teachers have adopted very little if any of the program while others are committed to adopting the entire program. The administration still has not made the ITI program public knowledge, so here's a brief explanation of the entire program:

The past is irrelevant so children will no longer study history.

Memorizing facts, studying worksheets, and acquiring core knowledge are meaningless, so kids will learn by hands-on projects, and learn only those specific skills and concepts which can be applied to real life experiences.

Testing knowledge and assigning grades are meaningless, cause stress and hurt self-esteem. Instead, the facilitator will give written evaluations of a student's ability to demonstrate a specific skill, attitude or value. "Paper and pencil testing should be used sparingly, and only when no other means of assessment are possible." (If grades must be given, they should be pass/fail or give everyone an A.)

Homework will be rare and only involve hands-on projects related to the class project.

Information can be found on the Internet, and through other sources, so children no longer need textbooks.

Students will not have separate math, science, English, and geography classes. They'll learn better by working on projects related to a yearlong theme, with no time limits.

Students will be divided into "family groups" and "skill groups" so they can teach themselves and each other, with minimum supervision by the teacher.

Classes should not be set by age and ability. Classes should have a minimum 3-year age spread and this "family group" will have the high achievers help low achievers arrive at the same successful outcome.

Teacher's must be allowed to develop their own curriculum, in consultation with school peers and personalized for and by each student. "Curriculum should consist almost entirely of concepts, skills, and attitudes/values which students can experience through 'being out in the real world.'"

Each student must have the freedom to choose how they want to learn.

The home and church are often the places where kids are exposed to bad influences or incorrect thinking; therefore the new role of the school is to develop the whole child and make them think like "good citizens." Correct social and behavior training is taught using techniques found in the book "Tribes."

There's a lot more to ITI, but you'll have to read it yourself to believe it. How can anyone take ITI seriously when the author states in the introduction of her book that graduation rates, SAT scores and science achievement aren't important and education should be about becoming a "good" citizen"?

How can anyone want to use the book "Tribes" when one of the main social concepts taught to the children is that individualism and competition are bad and we must now adhere to the collective good of the group?

ITI is not just another teaching tool. It is a complete change to our entire education system. The author of ITI states, "The entire system must be changed simultaneously... the system must be totally reinvented."

The ITI book calls for change in all four areas of education: Roles of the teacher and student; decision making and authority; testing and assessments; curriculum and instruction.

We know of no school or teaching team in Fayette County who are using the full ITI program. However, the entire program is approved, the staff has been trained, and many schools and many teachers are already using parts of the program.

How much of ITI is being implemented or is allowed to be implemented is just one of those things that no one in our school administration will talk about. Our county superintendent has stated that when teachers go "too far" with some education reforms, they will be "reined in."

How much of ITI implementation is considered "going too far"? If only parts of ITI are considered acceptable, what parts are they? Are some schools going to adopt the entire program? If so, then which schools?

Those are some of questions we've been asking since September and we believe all parents have a right to know the answers.